The Washington Post: May the government exclude “religious worship services” when opening up school space after hours to a range of private community groups?That’s the question the Court has been asked to review in Bronx Household of Faith v. Bd. of Ed. of the City of New York. The court may decide Friday whether to hear the case (though it can always put off the decision for some weeks).

National Review: The justices really ought to take this one, both to slap down an intransigent Second Circuit and to vindicate a core constitutional principle: The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does not in any way authorize, and the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses do not permit, direct government discrimination against religion, religious persons, religious groups, or religious expression in government programs, policies, benefits, or forums. Ever.

The New York Times: A group of doctors and terminally ill patients are asking New York courts to declare that doctor-assisted suicide is legal and not covered by the state’s prohibition on helping people take their own lives.

NYC Religion: “The Department did not need to open its facilities for after-hours nongovernmental uses, but it did. Now it must abide by constitutional rules forbidding express discrimination against religious expression and practices in otherwise permissible uses,” the Alliance reply brief explains.

One News Now: Since 1995, ADF has been representing churches kicked out of public school facilities. ADF is asking the Supreme Court to review a 2-1 ruling from the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that allows New York to kick churches out of schools that rent to other organizations such as the Boy Scouts. ADF attorney Jordan Lorence has taken the long-running case to the high court.

Christian News Network: Earlier this month, attorneys for the city filed a brief with the court again arguing that the policy was reasonable and non-discriminatory. “The department’s decision to make public schools available to religious organizations for a wide range of activities, but not for worship services or as a house of worship, is constitutional,” it read. “The policy does not prohibit, limit, or burden any religious practice; does not entangle the government in matters of religion; and does not impair petitioners’ ability to speak freely.”

The Blaze: A Christian church is continuing its battle for the unfettered right to rent New York City public school buildings to host worship services during non-school hours, with a conservative legal firm filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that pushes back against the local government’s ban on such rentals.

Charisma News: “In New York City, any community group can meet in vacant school buildings for any purpose except for religious groups meeting to worship God. The city’s arguments in defense of this policy cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence.

ADF Media: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday that answers New York City’s arguments against high court scrutiny of its 20-year-old quest to ban worship services in empty public school buildings. In September of last year, ADF asked the high court to review a 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit that upheld a city policy prohibiting worship services in public school buildings during non-school hours. The panel’s ruling is on hold until the Supreme Court decides whether to take the case.

Christianity Today: “I stand by my belief that a faith organization playing by the same rules as any community non-profit deserves access,” de Blasio said in a press conference last April. But five months later, the policy was still in place, and the Bronx Household of Faith petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court’s ruling that the city’s ban is constitutional.

The Christian Post: If you artificially remove one requirement for marriage – in this case, the binary male-female prerequisite – then there is no justification, logically or legally, for not removing all requirements.

Christian News Network: A New York woman from the Great Lakes region says that she is set to marry her biological father after being estranged from him for 12 years—a report some say confirms the slippery slope America is on concerning the devaluation and redefinition of marriage.

World Magazine:Over the last few years, WORLD has reported on several Christian-owned businesses across the country approached by homosexual couples to provide services for their weddings. In all cases, the owners declined to work with the couples, stating their religious beliefs prevented participation in same-sex ceremonies. The couples sued, alleging discrimination. Here’s an update on where their cases stand as 2015 gets underway.

Bloomberg View: Is New York state’s ban on “tiger selfies” the goofiest law of the year? It might be absurd for the state to pass a law banning the taking of photographs with jungle cats, but there’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution that bans absurd laws. The practical question — at least if you’re a New York stud who wants a tiger selfie for your Tinder photo — is whether the law is constitutional. If it is, you might have to travel to New Jersey (gasp) for your close encounter of the feline kind.

Reuters: New York state’s requirement that children be vaccinated in order to attend public school does not violate parents’ religious rights under the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

National Review: The regimen of surgical mutilation that until the day before yesterday went by the name “sex-change operation” — the catechists now instruct us to call it “gender-confirmation surgery” — has undergone a remarkable evolution: from banned to fringe to tolerated to celebrated to federally subsidized under Medicare to obligatory in Andrew Cuomo’s New York, with the governor announcing that insurance companies operating under his thumb will be obliged to pay for procedures relating to what the American Psychiatric Association calls “gender dysphoria.”

Alliance Defending Freedom: At a time of year when so many pause to wonder anew at the miracle of the Child in the manger, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys continue their tireless efforts to protect the miracle of children still in the womb.

The Christian Post: A New York school district has decided to approve a student’s proposal to start a Christian club at her high school called “Dare to Believe” after she was initially told that her student organization would be a possible violation of the U.S. constitution.

Life Site News: However, the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Matt Bowman, who represents Pregnancy Care Centers of New York, the Borough Pregnancy Counseling Center, and Good Counsel Homes in their case against the law, said that “free speech is protected in the First Amendment; surgery is not protected in the First Amendment.”

Christian Examiner: Cynthia and Robert Gifford paid $10,000 to the state for violating anti-discrimination laws and $1,500 each to lesbian partners for alleged mental anguish. Now James Trainor, an [allied] Alliance Defending Freedom attorney, is representing the devout Christian family to recover the money the state forced them to pay in violation of their religious freedoms, he said.

RT: “We’ve gone from tolerance to compulsion,’’ Trainor, allied with Alliance Defending Freedom, told the Post. “State government should not be forcing people to violate their own religious beliefs, nor should they be forced to make a choice between making a living and violating their own faith.’’

NY Post: Trainor is allied with Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that seeks justice for people of faith. Last month, he filed an appeal with the state Appellate Division on behalf of the Giffords, seeking to get their money returned — and setting the stage for New York state’s first legal battle pitting one couple’s constitutional right to religious freedom against another couple’s right to get married wherever they please.

Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact part of a controversial New York City law that forces crisis pregnancy centers to inform clients whether they have a licensed medical provider on staff.

ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman: “Pro-life pregnancy care centers, which offer free help and hope to women and their children, shouldn’t be punished by political allies of abortionists. Most of the government’s mandatory pro-abortion messages were struck down on appeal, but part of the law still forces pro-life centers to speak a message designed to scare women away. That ruling was only preliminary, so we will continue our efforts in this case to make sure free speech is fully protected for centers that offer free and caring help to women.”

Courthouse News Service: James Trainor of Cutler, Trainor & Cutler in Malta represents the Giffords. His signature line on the complaint indicates “allied attorney, Alliance Defending Freedom.” The Arizona-based group advocates “for the right of people to freely live out their faith,” according to its website.

Alliance Defending Freedom: When Cynthia’s phone rang that September evening in 2012, she was prepared for a usual inquiry about using the farm for a wedding ceremony. Nothing could have prepared her for what ultimately followed: a demand from the state that they violate their faith to host a same-sex ceremony in their own home.

Catholic Online: The Giffords are now being defended by the Alliance Defending Freedom and their case will proceed before the courts in a bid to protect religious freedom. According to attorneys for the Giffords, the judge nor the Division of Human Rights considered their First Amendment rights when deciding the case.

The Blaze: An [allied] attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal firm, filed a petition in New York State court Thursday on behalf of Cynthia and Robert Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farm, a farm and special events venue in Schaghticoke, New York.

The Christian Post: “All Americans should be free to live and work according to their beliefs. Entering the marketplace doesn’t mean the government can force a person to surrender their First Amendment freedoms or face punishment,” said James Trainor, the attorney.

Biz Pac: Administrative Law Judge Migdalia Pares also ordered the Giffords to “implement staff re-education training classes that teach the state’s viewpoint on marriage,” according to a statement from the Alliance Defending Freedom(ADF).

The Washington Times: Cynthia and Robert Gifford, whose Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke doubles as a special-events venue, filed a suit Thursday through the Alliance Defending Freedom legal firm asking that a ruling from the state’s Division of Human Rights be reexamined.

ADF Media: An Alliance Defending Freedom allied attorney filed a petition in New York state court Thursday that asks for review of a New York State Division of Human Rights decision against the owners of an upstate farm. The commission ruled that Cynthia and Robert Gifford were guilty of “sexual orientation discrimination” for declining to host a same-sex wedding ceremony on their property. As punishment, the commissioner fined them $10,000 plus $3,000 in damages and ordered the Giffords to implement re-education training classes for their staff that teach the state’s viewpoint on marriage.

The Daily Signal: James Trainor, the Giffords’ private attorney allied with Alliance Defending Freedom, said the family was “appealing every facet of the judge’s decision” and that he is “confident” that going forward, the family’s “constitutional rights and religious beliefs will be fully considered.”

CBN News: “New York City seems to have a kind of secularist viewpoint, sort of a leftover from the 1950s and 60s,” ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence told OneNewsNow. “It has this extreme view of separation of church and state that says If we let a church meet in a public school, there goes the neighborhood.”

NYC Religions: This morning, the lawyers for the Bronx Household of Faith petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule a federal appeals court decision that the New York City public school administration could, if it wanted, to bar religious groups from renting space in the public schools for the purpose of worship services. The legal defender of the church and its allies is the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit firm that specializes in religious liberty cases.

The Daily Signal: In this special video report from The Daily Signal, Cynthia Gifford tells the story of the government’s unexpected action to punish her and her husband for their religious beliefs. Their attorney, James Trainor of the Alliance Defending Freedom, explains the constitutional issues at stake.

One News Now: ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence has represented Bronx Household of Faith in the case that has been ongoing since 1995. “New York City seems to have a kind of secularist viewpoint, sort of a leftover from the 1950s and 60s,” he tells OneNewsNow. “It has this extreme view of separation of church and state that saysIf we let a church meet in a public school, there goes the neighborhood.”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to uphold the freedom of churches and other congregations to meet for worship services in New York City public schools. The petition asks the high court to review a 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit that upheld a city policy prohibiting worship services in public school buildings during non-school hours. The panel’s ruling is on hold until the Supreme Court decides whether to take the case.

Christian News Network: A Yemen-born man living in New York is among the latest being charged with aiding the Islamic terrorist group ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal court.

Religion Clause: Invoking RLUIPA, the Fair Housing Act, the 1st and 14th Amendments as well as New York statutory and constitutional provisions, in a 66-page federal court complaint a Jewish school, developers and Orthodox Jewish residents sued the Village of Bloomingburg, NY and the adjoining Town of Mamakating alleging an anti-Semitic conspiracy to prevent more Hasidic Jews from moving into the area.

Life Site News: “Going forward, the Giffords have decided to no longer host any wedding ceremonies on their farm, other than the ones already under contract,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) [allied] lawyer James Trainor.

Christian Today: “Going forward, [Cynthia and Robert Gifford] have decided to no longer host any wedding ceremonies on their property (other than the ones already under contract),” Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) allied attorney James Trainor, who represents the Giffords, told The Blaze.

Alliance Defending Freedom: Liberty Ridge Farm sits on nearly 100 pristine acres in upstate New York. The farm is also the home of Cynthia and Robert Gifford and their family, and the Giffords proudly describe themselves as farmers. A few times a year, the Giffords open their home and private property to the public for special events like pumpkin picking, or a corn maze. The Giffords also occasionally rent out part of the barn, containing their residence, for wedding celebrations.

The Blaze: “Going forward, [Cynthia and Robert Gifford] have decided to no longer host any wedding ceremonies on their property (other than the ones already under contract),” Alliance Defending Freedom allied attorney James Trainor told TheBlaze in a statement.

NY Daily News: Though attitudes about marriage are undeniably changing, much of America still respects its historic meaning. Lest we forget, Catholics and many Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim groups believe — and only sanction — a union of one man and one woman as marriage.

Washington Times (AP): Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on the state to outlaw discrimination against transgender people, saying gender identity and expression should be included in the state’s civil rights law alongside race, religion and disability.

Christian News Network: A New York farm has been fined $13,000 by the state Division of Human Rights for declining to host a same-sex ‘wedding’ on their property two years ago, and has been ordered to train their employees to accommodate homosexual ceremonies despite their Christian beliefs.

Religion Clause: After the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Town of Greece case last May, a number of local governments that had been enjoined by lower courts from opening council meetings with sectarian prayers petitioned lower courts to dissolve or modify the injunctions.

Christian News Network: A court of appeals has unanimously ruled that a steel beam cross displayed at a museum remembering the September 11th attacks does not violate the U.S. Constitution, despite assertions otherwise from a prominent atheist group.

The Christian Post: A three-judge panel from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that “the cross at Ground Zero” at the museum does not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The Christian Post: A South Carolina school board is considering a return to a prayer policy similar to Town of Greece, New York after the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of sectarian prayers at public meetings.

The Washington Times: David Cortman, director of litigation and senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, welcomed the ruling, noting that the high court said it is important to look at the historical practice of anything being challenged. “It’s difficult to say a practice that’s 200 years old is now unconstitutional because of a test framed 40 years ago,” Mr. Cortman said.

Christian News Network: A New York federal district judge ruled on Tuesday that a public school was justified in forcing a Christian science teacher to remove personal Bible-themed materials from her classroom.

One News Now: The city took the case to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which agreed with the lower court on killing most of the law. But Matt Bowman, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, tells OneNewsNow the court left one part intact that still restricts free speech.

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